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Environmental Commission (EC) Campion School MUN 2018 Environmental Commission (EC) COMBATING ILLEGAL TRADE IN WILDLIFE Student Officer: Marilia Pavlidou Position: Deputy President President: Maria Patouna International Memorable Challenges Community Experience Skills SPECON: Combating Human/Sec Campion School MUN 2018 Trafficking Table of Contents INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................................................ 3 DEFINITIONS OF KEY TERMS ......................................................................................................................................... 4 TOPIC DISCUSSION ......................................................................................................................................................... 7 CAUSES ........................................................................................................................................................................... 11 POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS ................................................................................................................................................. 12 MAJOR COUNTRIES & ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED ................................................................................................ 13 ORGANIZATIONS ............................................................................................................................................................... 13 COUNTRIES...................................................................................................................................................................... 15 UN INVOLVEMENT: RELEVANT RESOLUTIONS & TREATIES .................................................................................. 17 RESEARCH QUESTIONS ............................................................................................................................................... 18 BIBLIOGRAPHY .............................................................................................................................................................. 19 SPECON: Combating Human/Sec Campion School MUN 2018 Trafficking INTRODUCTION Throughout the history of humanity, mistreatment of natural goods has been commonly seen. Our environment has been overexploited numerous times, with no concern for the consequences affecting both wildlife and humans. Wildlife trade refers to “the commerce of products that are derived from non-domesticated animals or plants.” Usually, such individuals are taken from their natural environment and raised under controlled conditions. This way wildlife develops characteristics beneficial to trade, increasing their worth. Wildlife trade is regulated by the United Nations' Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). This market can offer significant benefits to poor communities, when well-regulated. Sustainable income from the trade of medicine, food, clothing, pets and many other can be invested to the livelihood of people and families in LEDCs. Additionally, wildlife can be protected through legal trade. For example, eggs can be collected, regulating and increasing breading to avoiding extinction. Though, with such economic benefits, it is inevitable for this market to be exploited. Illegal wildlife trade has been ranked as the fourth largest transnational crime. A worrying percentage of wildlife trade is illegal making it the second-largest direct threat to many species, after habitat loss. TRAFFIC estimated that wildlife products worth about 160 US billion dollars were imported, legally, around the globe each year and roughly 19 US billion dollars of illegal trade. Shockingly, over 100 million tons of fish, 1.5 million live birds and 440,000 tonnes of medicinal plants in trade in just one year. This has been made possible by taking advantage of modern air travel system. Illegal wildlife trade shows some major disadvantages. Firstly, the immorality of the issue must be discussed. The use of living creatures for economic benefit or the creation of luxury goods such as designer clothing and decorative pieces has been vastly criticized. Infants are being killed, left orphaned and deprived of their mother’s protection. Additionally, such trade has significant effects on biodiversity by limiting wildlife variety and threatening local ecosystems and decreases animal population. In order to tackle this issue, it is first important to understand its size and consequences. Subsequently, how traders manage to illegally exchange wildlife and what are their motives. SPECON: Combating Human/Sec Campion School MUN 2018 Trafficking DEFINITIONS OF KEY TERMS • Flora “The plants of a particular region, habitat, or geological period” • Fauna The animals of a particular region, habitat, or geological period” • Wildlife Trade “Refers to the commerce of products that are derived from non-domesticated animals or plants usually extracted from their natural environment or raised under controlled conditions” It may involve live or dead animals, their skins, bones or meat. • Poaching “The illegal practice of trespassing on another's property to hunt or steal game without the landowner's permission” • Sustainability “The ability to be sustained, supported, upheld, or confirmed.” In environmental sciences, specifically, it is considered the “quality of not being harmful to the environment or depleting natural resources, and thereby supporting long-term ecological balance” • Biodiversity “The variety of plant and animal life in the world or in a particular habitat, a high level of which is usually considered to be important and desirable.” SPECON: Combating Human/Sec Campion School MUN 2018 Trafficking • Wildlife trade hotspots Certain places where wildlife trade is particularly threatening • Corruption “Dishonest or fraudulent conduct by those in power, typically involving bribery” SPECON: Combating Human/Sec Campion School MUN 2018 Trafficking TIMELINE Date Description of Event 1600- 75 known mammals go extinct 1900 1903 • Establishment of the Society for the Preservation of Wild Fauna and Flora of the Empire • Now Fauna and Flora International 1972 UN Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment 1973 Establishment of CITES 2006 Spike of Elephant Poaching 20th 3 March proclaimed World Wildlife Day Dec 2013 2016 EU Action Plan against Wildlife Trafficking April Ivory tusk burn in protest of poaching by Kenya and Cameroon 2016 2nd Dec Launch of Oxford Martin Program to tackle illegal wildlife trade 2016 SPECON: Combating Human/Sec Campion School MUN 2018 Trafficking TOPIC DISCUSSION Size and Guidelines of Legal Trade Wildlife trade, as aforementioned, is an exchange of animals or plants by humans. It ranges from medicine to clothing, ornaments, food, and pets. It can be seen in a national as well as an international level and involves hundreds of thousands of different species. The main motive of the trade is economic, ranging from local income to major businesses. Additionally, it helps to provide food, such as nuts, fruits, and leaves, which make up significant resources for sustainable livelihood in rural areas. It is estimated that over 60 countries depend on wildlife to obtain animal protein. Subsequently, trees and plants are used for fuel and medicine ingredients, especially herbal remedies and traditional medicine, is acquired from wildlife. It is estimated the 70,000 plants species are used for medicine and 25% of “modern” medicine has developed based on wildlife medicinal properties. Strict and specific guidelines have been set for the regulation of trade. After the 15th Conference of the Parties of CITES, held in Doha, Qatar in March 2010, trade of the majority of endangered species was prohibited (Appendix I), except for rare circumstances. A list of animals and plant, whose commercial trade wasn’t fully prohibited was finalized in the conference (Appendix II and III). LEDCs are greatly depending on wildlife trade, mostly to increase tourism. For example, shark diving brings an income of $49.9 billion to Fiji, alone. SPECON: Combating Human/Sec Campion School MUN 2018 Trafficking Size of illegal trade Wildlife trafficking appears at a large scale. Specifically, it is the fourth biggest transnational crime valued at roughly 19-20 US billion dollars a year. It could best be described as unsustainable overexploitation of wildlife for economic benefit due to increasingly high demand by dangerous dangerous international networks. It constitutes one of the biggest threats to biodiversity and endangered species such as elephants, rhinos, and orchids. Many variables are responsible for its dramatic increase in size over the past decade. Firstly, the human population growth and increase in wealth have raised demand. Also, the improvement of international transport has allowed for easier trade. For example, it is estimated that 20-35 elephants are taken out Assam each year and are being sold at a price of $22,572 to $33,841. In addition, an estimated 1,069 to 1,220 tiger killings for tiger parts trafficking has taken place between 2000 and 2010. How the trade happens Wildlife trafficking trade has routes extending to every continent and key linkages in major markets such as China and the United States. Such trade happens in a similar way to illegal drug and arms trafficking. A major source is the internet’s deep web and dark web (part of the deep web) which refers to “encrypted online content that is not indexed
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